Approaching Darkness
by AHipsterWithoutAName
Summary: The Story of a group of people deciding to barricade themselves inside a school to survive the infection. First Fic, Pleast Comment and Favorite!Rated M for violence/gore and adult themes in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1: Looming Clouds

Approaching Darkness

Chapter 1: Looming Clouds…

To think, only a couple hours ago it was like any other day, but now it had turned into complete and utter chaos. Iran through the darkness, nothing but a baseball bat in my hand and a compact sniper rifle on my back. When I had finally had it out of my local district to the highway, the scene had not gotten much better. The streets and sidewalks were littered with dead bodies, chunks and pieces missing from each and every one of them. Cars were stopped for miles, every single one abandoned by their passengers. I cautiously Walked through the maze of vehicles, my bat held firmly in both hands just to be safe in case any of them decided to return. The plan was simple, make it over to the school and barricade myself inside. My name's Terry Baker, and I will survive whatever this is…

I continued to walk down the long highway, not catching a glimpse of them which was both relaxing and unnerving at the same time. Until now, I had never walked to the school before, I had always took the bus, but now, that wasn't really an option. Even if I did manage to find a bus I wouldn't be able to drive it. Firstly, the roads are packed with abandoned cars and a city bus wasn't exactly built for offloading, and two, even if I was able to get it started, the noise would just attract them again. When I had finally made it to the school, it laid in just as much ruin as the rest of the town. Blood smeared all over the brick walls outside, the windows on the third floor all seemed to be broken. Probably jumpers, I know I'd rather take my own life then to be eaten alive and turn into one of them any day.

I carefully walked through the courtyard, wanting so hard to keep my eyes off the carnage but I couldn't, in case any of the bodies came back to life as one of them. You just couldn't even call those things human anymore, they were distorted, contorted but most of all, they're animalistic appetite for the living. It was just a horrifying experience, having to see the playground with butchered and mangled bodies all over it. I tried my hardest to see past all the bloodshed and get to the back entrance of the school, I knew that the janitor always kept it open so he could go for his usual cigarette halfway through his cleaning job. Well, apparently that didn't go too well since I saw his body leaned up against the side of the school. He appeared to have bite and claw marks all over his body, but most graphic, both his eyes had been taken from his head. I tried my hardest to stay calm but it was slowly becoming harder and harder.

I stuffed my bat into the back of my sweater as a makeshift sheath as I readied my trusty sniper rifle. The SRS .308 Winchester. Dad had given it to me right before he passed on three years ago from a brain aneurism. I treasure this gun more then any of my other worldly possessions. I didn't expect I'd ever have to use it for something like this. I loaded it up with seven rounds before swinging the bloodstained glass door open, pointing it forward, my finger ready on the trigger. The place seemed deserted now, not to mention quite clean except for a couple of small bloodstains along the wall as well as a couple of bloody handprints seeming to trail off downward. The thing that was bugging me the most was that there was blood but no bodies. Which could either mean they're already gone or…no, I didn't want them to still be here.

I started my sweep of the building, seemingly nothing to see except more and more bloodstains, it was quite eerie, not even seeing a single body, it was getting to me. It was as if every turn I made I expected something to jump out at me. Yet not a single thing did as I continued my thorough search of the school, checking every single nook and cranny before making it back to down the cafeteria. It seemed relatively clean so I decided to make this my base of operations. I rested my sniper up against the wall and started shifting the tables around quietly as to not attract attention, slowly bringing them over one by one down the halls and against the doors, at least until I heard the slight creek of the front entrance door slowly being opened up.

I dropped everything I was doing and readied my trusty baseball bat. Rushing over to the doorway, seeing it wide open. The thing that bothered me was the fact that whatever it was, it was fast. It had already ran off along the hallways, seeing the bloodied shoe prints trail off down the hall. It was incredibly nerve racking, to see the eerie sign of life that had just hidden itself somewhere in the school. I had to find out if it was friend or foe right away, hopefully there were more survivors besides me. Before I went to check search once again, I went to retrieve my rifle from the cafeteria, only to realize it was completely gone. Whatever that thing was seemed to be smart enough to grab it before it ran off to hide. This just angered me, I felt the adrenaline pumping through me, I needed to get that gun back at any cost.

I gripped the bat firmly in a readied position, read to use it if needed as I followed the footprints, noticing them quickly trailing off into a storage closet. He got whatever it was cornered and he wasn't planning on letting it go until it relinquished my weapon from it's grasp. I gripped the door handle, still holding onto the bat, taking a deep breathe before swinging the door wide open, ready to smash my bat downward, but I didn't. to my surprise, it was a girl, looking about the same age as me hugging my gun tightly in her arms. She had forced herself into the corner of the small storage closet, clearly the bloodshed over the past day had already gotten to her. I kneeled down, placing my bat quietly to the floor, trying not to seem as much of a threat to her. I talked to the girl, trying to get her to say something, anything, but she wouldn't, she just stared off at the floor, still hugging the sniper tightly in her arms.

I flicked on the light switch so I could get a better look at the girl, firstly, I realized who she was right away, she was another student at this school, Crystal if I remembered correctly. I knew because her shoulder length red hair but also for her black rimmed glasses which seemed to be falling off her nose ever so slightly. Nobody really paid much attention to her, the only thing people really knew her for was her brains, but also her shortness, I mean, she was easily one of the shortest girls in this entire school. I looked at her still, simply offering her a hand this time. Slowly, she looked at my extended arm hesitantly. For a good couple of minutes she stared at it, until, shockingly she grabbed my hand, her body trembling still. "T-terry…"


	2. Chapter 2: Light Drizzle

Chapter two: Light Drizzle…

I looked up at the guy that was in front of me, it was the "sparrow", Terry. Out of all the people, it had to be him. Terry is and always has been one of the most popular kids at the school before all the chaos started. Captain of the baseball team, the head of the carpentry club but most of all, the guy that every girl seemed to swoon over.

I reached out, grabbing for the blonde's hand, still trembling from all the traumatic things I had to endure just to get to the school. At first, I had thought he was one of them because of his tattered jeans and the bloodstains on his red flannel shirt as well as the stains on his shades, which he kept on the top of his head, just over his forehead.

I shook my head as I tried to calm myself as much as humanly possible. I had finally found someone. Someone alive, that's all that mattered. Just as I was about to grab his hand, I heard a loud snarl followed by a low gurgling noise. I looked up, seeing what I was trying to avoid all day, it was one of them. I pushed myself back into the corner, taking aim at it's head.

Terry quickly put his hands up, thinking I was taking aim at him, at least, until it heard the low growls coming from behind him, to which he quickly ducked his head. I tried hard to steady my aim as much as possible, the butt of the gun jabbing me in the gut as I did so. Finally, I took the shot, getting the monstrous creature right in the waist.

I shuddered as it fell to the floor with a sickening thud, which was terry's queue to get inside the closet as well. I kept my eye on the body, hoping it was the end. My hopes were quickly shattered though as the monstrosity reared it's head, it's eyes seeming to glow red, blood trickling down from them and along it's cheeks, like red tears as it started to claw and scratch at the ground, trying as hard as it possibly could to get to it's newly found prey.

I took aim again, placing my eye down to the scope, taking aim directly for the grotesque creature in front of us. I shivered a little, seeing the intent in it's eyes, as if there was no more remorse left from it's "human" form. I took the second shot, this one knocking the wind right out of me as the butt of the gun jabbed into my chest from the recoil. I took I few deep breathes as I looked back up again, seeing that I had hit my mark. The body being completely devastated by the bullet firing directly into it's head, causing it's head to burst on impact.

I let out a sigh of belief as I lowered the gun, which terry swiftly grabbed out of my hands, already checking it for any damage done to it. I was curious to where he acquired a gun like that. I put that question to the back of my head for the time being as I slowly rose to my feet, handing terry his bat as well, smiling slightly.

"not too bad for someone who's never shot a gun…"

he said In a faint voice as he checked the magazine for bullets before pulling out two new shells from his jean pocket and reloading it.

I stayed silent as I slowly peeked my head out from behind the closet door, checking to see if the coast was clear.

"relax, that was the only one, it must've trailed u into the school. Thank god."

Terry had never been too great at small talk with people, especially ones he'd never talked to before. He had always spent his time either outside with the other baseball players, in the gym with the other jocks or talking with the student council, all except for me. For some reason he seemed to avoid me. It had never really bothered me so I just didn't let it register until now.

He had always had these amazing ideas to change the school but the student council never took him seriously about any of them. I guess that was to be expected, he was quite a goofball at some points, though that seemed to have changed due to the more current events.

I finally spoke. "well, looks like we're kind of stuck here now aren't we?"

I giggled, trying to lift the mood. However, it didn't seem to phase him as he adjusted the strap on his gun before putting it over his shoulder, letting the sniper hang off his back.

"c'mon, gimme a hand with these tables ok?" he said as he casually walked down the hall gripping his bat in his left hand, his red plaid flannel shirt waving around a little as he did. It was intriguing yet frightening that someone like that wasn't even phased my the senseless bloodshed that had gone on throughout the day.

I quickly caught up with him, looking down at the ground, keeping silent as we walked together down the hall. The smell of decay just flooding my senses as we did. I hadn't noticed it until I had focused in on it, just bringing images of the dead and undead into my mind. It was an overwhelming smell that I just couldn't shake away. It almost seemed to cling on and stick with you for hours on end.

I finally turned my attention back to Terry and the tables, he had already moved several of them, there was just one was one to barricade, the one I had first entered from.

"but…what about…others?" I asked him as he pulled yet another lunch table from the cafeteria across the tiled floors of the hallway.

"well, I haven't gotten a response from anyone I tried contacting from my house…" he said, seeming to be slightly fatigued from an entire day of running for his life. At least, that's what I believed since I had gone through the same ordeal.

"l…let me try to get a hold of some people, my phone still works" Terry gave me a small nod as he took a break from moving the tables over.

"if you think it'll work, got ahead" he said as he laid down on top of the table, resting his hands behind his head.

I searched through my phone, trying every single number in it…not one person picked up. At least until I got to the one person I despised so much, Keith Livingston.

"Hello…?"


End file.
